Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!sunybcs!dmark
From: dmark@cs.Buffalo.EDU (David Mark)
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: Re: Northwestern Crow
Summary: it has not (yet) been lumped
Message-ID: <9319@cs.Buffalo.EDU>
Date: 15 Aug 89 17:49:16 GMT
References: <1480@cbnewsl.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: dmark@sunybcs.UUCP (David Mark)
Organization: SUNY/Buffalo Geography
Lines: 27

In article <1480@cbnewsl.ATT.COM> dune@cbnewsl.ATT.COM (sandon.l.joren) writes:
>I just returned from a (much too brief) trip to Oregon.  Although I only
>had one day to bird, I did manage to get a number (10) of life birds.  One
>question I have though;  what is the status of the Northwestern Crow in 
>Northern Oregon, along the coast.  My range maps and descriptions mention
>that it is only south to Puget Sound, and I have been told that even there,
>most of them are hybrids.  
                  ^^^^^^^
   Many birders in Washinton feel that the "Northwestern Crow" has never been a
   valid species.  Hybrids as such are difficult to detect, of course.  Look
   at Washington Christmas Counts, and you'll find no NW Crows.  However, in
   British Columbia they are treated as a full species.  They probably will
   be lumped if an when someone does a dissertation on them.  But, no one
   has, and so the A.O.U. has not (yet) lumped them.

>                            Many of the crows that I saw in Ecola Park however,
>had a much more nasal call than I am used to.  In fact, they sounded much like
>Fish Crows!

   Of course, recently-fledged young brachyrhynchus crows have very nasal,
   Fish-crow-like calls.  Could they have been youngsters?  To be honest, I
   havecounted them on range, and do not have them on
   my Oregon list.  


David Mark
dmark@cs.buffalo.edu